Utah State women’s coach abruptly says she was fired to end awkward press conference
Well, this is awkward
Ahead of the 2019-2020 women’s college basketball season, Kayla Ard took over as the head coach at Utah State. Ard faced a big challenge on campus, as the Aggies were coming off a season that saw them finish with an 8-23 record, last place in the Mountain West Conference.
However, the Aggies have now seen three-straight losing seasons under Ard, with their most recent season coming to an end this weekend in the Mountain West Conference tournament with an 85-49 loss to Boise State in the opening round. With the loss, the Aggies dropped to 4-26 on the year, the most losses in a single season in school history.
Following the loss, Ard took to the microphone for the postgame press conference and was asked how she would turn things around. She gave a rather surprising answer.
“I’m not going to be rebuilding, I just coached my last game at Utah State:”
This is crazy! After the Utah State women lost tonight, coach Kayla Ard was asked how they rebuild next season - and she says she just got fired. Never seen anything like this.
— B.J. Rains (@BJRains) March 11, 2024
"I'm assuming that's going to be the last question?"
(Video courtesy of The Mountain West) pic.twitter.com/j9yjcMAbjD
As you can see from her response, before arriving at the press conference Ard spoke with Utah State Athletic Director Diana Sabau, who informed her that the school was going in a different direction.
Ard then finished her brief answer with a jaw-dropping question of her own:
“I’m assuming that’s going to be the last question?”
It absolutely was, as Ard quickly left the press conference.